Communication systems and electronic devices are used in many applications across many different industries and businesses. Often, these communication systems and electronic devices use shared digital channels for communicating data to and from various electronic devices. For example, a digital broadcast audio/video receiver (commonly referred to as a set-top box) may receive data in the form of several television channels such that the data received corresponds to audio, video and other meta-data regarding one or more of several available television or radio channels. As such, when a digital stream of data is sent to a set-top box over a communication channel (e.g., a satellite signal or a digital broadband signal over a coaxial cable), it is common to multiplex all of the data together for the overall signal and then de-multiplex specific channels at the receiver.
With a growing number of television channels and radio stations in a typical entertainment package offered by satellite and broadband providers, and along with the growing number of high-definition options, the available bandwidth for delivering a single stream of data all at once becomes increasingly difficult given bandwidth limitations of the actual communication mediums. Providers must choose how to allocate the available bandwidth to deliver the optimal distribution of data in a single multiplexed signal.